Clubs discuss terror attack response

Representatives of some of England’s top football clubs were meeting today for a national conference on strategies to deal with a potential terrorist attack on a sports stadium.

Officials from clubs including Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool were set to gather at Stoke’s Britannia Stadium for the awareness day.

Emergency planners, also attending the summit, have stressed there is no specific threat to any ground. But they want to discuss how clubs would respond to a chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear disaster.

Staffordshire County Council’s chief emergency planning officer, Mike Slaney, said: “This awareness day is not in response to any specific threat but part of Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire’s structured plan of training and exercising procedures to ensure the area’s preparedness in dealing with major incidents and disasters.”

Stoke’s assistant stadium safety manager, John Baylay, added: “This day has been some six months in the planning and should prove to be an interesting and challenging day for all.”